The Before Time
by Inari-san
Summary: Chapter Two: Atemu disappears and finds himself somewhere that is definitely not Domino, and finds out a few things about the recent missing people.
1. It Always Rains

**Inari: Hello everyone! This is my first fic! (cheers) I think that this chapter turned out better than I expected. I wouldn't say it's the next great epic, but at least it's not trash. I like it best out of all my fanfictions, so this is the one I'm posting first. Hopefully I'll post more soon, but for now it's just this. To start with: This is rated K+. I will try to maintain that rating, but I may change it depending on how 'scary' it gets. So anyway, here are the symbols and character names I will be using:**

**_"words here"_ -Hikari to Yami and vice-versa.  
**

**Ryou Bakura will be Ryou. Dark Bakura will be Bakura. Mutou Yuugi and Dark Yuugi will be spelled Yugi Mutou and Atemu. Everyone else will be using their Japanese names. And Yugi's mom _does_ appear in the manga occasionally.**

**Atemu: Wait... why do I have to be Atemu? Couldn't I be 'Atem', or 'The At-man', or heck, how about plain old 'Yami'!**

**Inari: (sighs) Yugi, you do the disclaimer, and say something funny!**

**Yugi: But I can't think of anything funny! (shrugs) Tavi does not own Yugioh. If she did, she would be rich and famous. **

**Inari: And not writing on a fanfiction site.**

**Yugi: That too. So here's the fic.**

**Inari: Enjoy!**

**

* * *

**

**Prologue**

_We are only children._

_I realize that now. We shouldn't be in this position. We were in over our heads from the start. _

_Now I am hanging for my life, gripping the cliff ledge for all I've got, trying my best to hold on. But I am nearing my limit. My strength is about to give out. _

_And then I will die._

_What will happen to the others when I'm gone? I can see them just a few feet above me. They are yelling something. Only two left, though. Kata and Matsu were captured. It was all my fault. They will all be better off without me. After all, I was the one who got us here in the first place. Leading a bunch of kids into danger. You see, I wanted a real victory. I wanted justice, wanted to stop innocent people from dying. I wanted to believe that I could save the world._

_I was foolish._

_And now the innocent people dying will be us._

_Ryou is up there. And now I'm recalling the conversation we had. The conversation about mother. How much we had loved her when she was alive. How terrible it was to see her die. How it never should have happened. How he wished he could have done something. It was all because of our items. We thought we could use them to save the world._

_We tried. Oh, we tried. But how were we to know that there was a traitor among us? He was there the whole time, and we never realized that he was working for more than one goal. He tried to put us off the track, fool us into believing that her sudden disappearance was an accident. And we were fooled, briefly._

_I should have left it where it ended, but I didn't. Something didn't feel right._

_It never does._

_My vision is swimming now. Their faces are blurred and swaying. Colors are blending together. My arms are trembling with the strain. And I realize it was all pointless. All for nothing. _

_My life is flashing before my eyes. Not my whole life. I'm grateful for that. Just the important pieces. I wish that I could say that by my sacrifice the world would be safe._

_Maybe someone else will rise up to protect the planet, or maybe not. I pray for the former._

_But now my life is over._

_I am falling._

* * *

**Chapter One**

"Ryou, hurry up!"

"I'll hurry up if you slow down. Stop going so fast!"

It was Friday. The last day of school before a weekend of fun. Yugi Mutou was on his way home from school, with Ryou Bakura in tow. The two boys were headed for the Kame Game Shop to do their homework.

With the recent disappearances in the neighborhood, Yugi thought that it would be safer to have Ryou stay at his place after school. His grandfather and Ryou had agreed, and now Ryou was officially spending the night. Yugi, in an attempt to get home before it started pouring, was running as fast as his short little legs could take him.

Realizing that Ryou was not with him, Yugi stopped and turned around, his spiky red hair waving in the wind. Panting, Ryou slowly caught up to him.

"Don't you... ever... ever... do that... again." he wheezed.

"Sorry, I was just trying to beat the rain," said Yugi.

"Come on Yugi, look at the sky. I don't see a single cloud._ It is not going to rain._"

Yugi sighed. "But the weatherman said... oh, never mind. Let's get going. My Grampa's probably waiting for us."

"Okay. One second." Ryou mumbled.

Yugi stopped in mid-step. "What's wrong Ryou? Are you sick or something?"

"No. I was just thinking... Amane used to do that. She was always worried about our parents. Today's the day she died."

"Oh!" Yugi's eyes widened. "I'm so sorry."

"Nah, it's okay. I'm fine."

They walked the rest of the way, chatting about weathermen. True to what Yugi had said, it had indeed begun to rain. Raindrops splashed on their heads as they ran, harder and harder, until they were completely soaked.

It got to the point where it was raining so hard that they couldn't stand it, and Ryou suggested that they stop to wait out the storm in a doorway. "Not going to rain, eh?" Yugi said.

Ryou gave in. "Okay, fine. You were right."

"Um... Ryou..." Yugi started. "About your sister... maybe you should be with your dad today."

Ryou raised an eyebrow.

"So... if you don't want to spend the weekend with me and the guys... you don't have to. They'll understand."

"Yugi, I'm okay. Really. It was only a car crash, there's no point dwelling on the past. Don't worry about me." Ryou gave a sad smile. "After all, worse things _have_ happened to people."

They sat down in silence.

Not two blocks away, a figure was moving slowly down the road. Anyone looking out their window would think upon first glance he was just walking home. Just a little kid. Granted he was hooded, dressed in black, and his shoes were nearly worn through. But so what, you might think. Fashions change, and it _is_ raining. And yet he seemed oblivious to the rain. Some would stop looking then and go make some hot chocolate, thinking how nice it was to be inside. The few that were more interested, however, would see that his behavior was rather odd. Lost in thought, he would walk down the street, but instead of continuing on he would pause for a minute, turn, and walk the other way. After one turn it looked like he was simply going the wrong way. But after five turns, he started to look very odd indeed.

Inside a small brown house on the left side of the street a toddler was thinking just that. "Mommy, he's doing it again," he whimpered after the seventh turn.

"Now Keitaro, I'm sure he has a perfectly good reason to be here," said his mother, although frankly she couldn't decide what that reason was. "There's no reason to be scared."

"Fine." muttered Keitaro as the boy reached the end of the street.

Then suddenly he was gone.

"See? Nothing to worry about." His mother smiled, but the smile was forced. She walked towards the kitchen. "I'm just going to call someone, you wait right here."

And Keitaro was left puzzling over the boy and his sudden disappearance.

Outside the rain had gotten worse. Yugi and Ryou were huddling together, soaked, carefully preserving the little body heat they had left. Sheets of rain poured down around them, sloshing at their feet.

"Yugi, I think this was a really bad idea!" yelled Ryou. "We should get inside, it's dangerous to be outside in this weather!"

Yugi tried fruitlessly to keep rain water off the millennium puzzle. "Good idea! I don't think the puzzle can take much more of this, and neither can I!" He looked around for anyone that could help, but everyone else had gotten inside long before. "The only thing I can think of is to try the door and hope that the residents are friendly." Yugi reached towards the handle and tugged as hard as he could, but to no avail.

"It's locked, " he moaned. "What are we supposed to do now?"

Ryou pounded on the door. "Hello? Is anyone home? We're too far away to get home, we need help! Please!" He collapsed onto the ground shaking. "Please..."

"I doubt you'll receive help here." Yugi and Ryou wheeled around. Standing behind them was a boy who couldn't be more than eleven. He was dressed in black, and his pale hair was clinging to his face.

"Who are you?" said Yugi.

The boy ignored the question and proceeded to take something from his pocket.

"What are you do-" Ryou reached out a hand and stopped. The boy had put something in it. Opening his outstretched hand he saw something shining.

It was a key. Ryou looked up.

"Put it in the door," suggested the boy.

"You... how did you... what did you..." Yugi sputtered. Suddenly the door clicked open. Ryou walked through. "Yugi, the key worked."

Yugi turned to thank the boy, but he was gone. "That's odd."

"Get inside!" Ryou called from the hallway.

Yugi did so with no hesitation. The warmth came as a relief, and he could feel it spreading through his body. "We should probably call Grampa now, he'll be worried."

"Yeah, after all we are an hour late."

"What? We were out there for a _whole hour_?" Yugi glanced over at a wall clock in panic, as his own watch had stopped due to water damage. Sure enough, it read four-thirty. "Man, I must have lost track of time. Grampa's probably had a heart attack, he'll think that we've been the next murder victims!" He looked around for a phone. "I'm going to call him right now." He started to walk towards the kitchen, then stopped. He had just thought of something that puzzled him.

"Ryou, if that boy if that boy had a key to the house, then why didn't he use it?"

His friend shrugged. "Maybe he stole it and wanted us to take the blame."

Yugi sighed, knowing that that was probably the most probable explanation either of them would think of. "I guess... but why would he steal it and then just throw it away? It doesn't make sense. And how did he know that there was no one home _if he came from the street_? Somehow I think that there's more going on here than first meets the eye."

The teen went and picked up the phone, dialing his home number. "Hello?"

"Yugi, is that you? You had us worried! Your mother is in tears. Is Ryou with you? Are you okay? Where are you?"

"It's okay Grampa, Ryou's here with me. We couldn't get home, we went inside an empty house for shelter."

"What? Who's house are you in?"

"I don't know, we just came to this house and the door was open," Yugi said. It wasn't the whole truth, but it wasn't exactly a lie either. "I'm using their phone."

"Okay Yugi... but when the storm stops I want you to come right home. And if the house's owner gets back, you should leave, alright?"

"Alright Grampa. See you later."

"Goodbye Yugi. Be careful coming home." With a click he hung up. Yugi replaced the phone on it's hook and relayed the message to Ryou. The pair, not wanting to get the house too wet, dried their footprints with Yugi's lunch napkin and sat by the door.

Yugi took this time to study the house. It was, he thought, nice in a dull sort of way. Like photos from a furniture catalogue, it was a little too clean. It almost didn't look lived in. All the walls were painted either pale beige or red. The chairs in what Yugi supposed was the living room still looked fresh from the box, without a stain or crease on them. The throw pillows on a large black sofa perched almost impertinently, as if they were saying 'This sofa wasn't made for sitting, it was made for pillows, and we dare you to move us!' There were no photographs anywhere along the walls, only obscure landscape paintings that didn't seem to be pictures of anywhere in particular. A large glass coffee table was spotlessly clean, without even the comfort of a bowl of mints. The pitter patter of rain was momentarily replaced a ripple of thunder which echoed off marble tiled floors, echoing ominously around the house. In short, Yugi concluded, not the kind of place that one would want to live.

"What if the kid was a spirit? Like Atemu, only more helpful?" suggested Ryou.

_"A good theory, but highly improbable." _said the spirit in question.

_"Gah! Atemu, I thought you were asleep!"_ said Yugi through their mind link.

_"I don't sleep. I was thinking."_ replied Atemu.

_"Ryou had a real point there, you're no help at all."_

_"I wouldn't say that to the guy who saved your sorry little butt... let's see, how many times?"_

_"Well, oh helpful one, I didn't see you coming to our aid outside."_

_"What did you expect me to do, pick the lock? That's Bakura's work. Take it out on _him

Yugi sighed. _"Whatever. Sorry for getting mad Atemu. I'm just kind of ticked that I can't figure this one out. How do you think he got the key?"_

_"Maybe he lives here. Did you think of that?"_

Suddenly they were interrupted by a girl walking through the door. Or trying, anyway. The wind was pulling her umbrella backwards. When she finally yanked it through, she slammed the door and placed the umbrella inside a sliding door closet that neither of them had seen. The girl pulled dark wet hair back into a ponytail and turned around, kicking off her rain boots. Glancing up, she noticed her guests for the first time. "Nasty weather outside, isn't it?" The girl turned a melting smile on them, showing off perfect white teeth and wide brown eyes.

_Strike that theory. They sure don't look alike_, Yugi thought, out loud saying "I'm sorry we're intruding, but we kind of had to get out of the rain, and... um, well..." Yugi trailed off, blushing. "I'm Yugi Mutou, and this is Ryou Bakura." Ryou smiled shyly. "We were kind of hoping to wait out the storm..."

"No prob. I'm Emiko Kata, nice to meet you," the girl said. "Well now, don't be strangers, come on in!"

Yugi and Ryou followed her into the living room. Emiko gestured to three of the wooden chairs around the room, and they sat.

"So, you go to Domino?" asked Yugi.

"I do now. We used to live in Tokyo. I went to a private school there. We only moved a few months ago. Too bad, it was a nice place. No offense."

"None taken. Why did you move if it was so great?"

"Some kids in my class disappeared. My parents thought that it was a trash school, so they took me out. The same thing's happened here though. It must be going on all over Japan." she shrugged. "By the way, how did you get in?"

"Oh..." Yugi mumbled. He had been worried about this. He decided to tell the truth. "A kid gave us a key."

Ryou took the key out and showed Emiko. "This is it." For a second her face clouded over, then returned to normal. "Oh, that's my spare." She said. "I've been looking for it. Hey look, the rain's stopped. You two better get going. Bye."

Ryou handed her the key on the way out. As he looked back at Emiko in her brown pants and white jacket, he couldn't help but think he had seen her somewhere. As the door closed the boys splashed down the street, one puzzled, the other determined to figure out what was going on.

"Some day. Dead sister, huge thunderstorm. You don't think there could be a connection, do you Ryou?"

"Maybe. We better get to your house though."

Yugi grinned. "Whatever you say, Ryou. Just go quickly. I'm not waiting up for you this time!"

* * *

Yugi lived in the Kame Game shop with his mother, father, and Grampa. His father was generally away on business, and his mother was one of those people who always had to be working; so it was usually just him and his Grampa. His mother at least stayed in the house and at least would always see him off to school, but she always did shopping around the time usually came home. Yugi was at first surprised to see his mother and grampa talking in the shop, but then remembered the time. 

"Grandpa, Mom, I'm home!" Yugi said as he stepped through the door.

"Oh, good. I made tea. You boys come into the kitchen and dry off!"

Mrs. Mutou tossed them towels, and Yugi and Ryou dried off red and white hair, respectively. The pair walked through the store and into the kitchen that was part of the building. Each boy picked up his cup of tea and sat down at the table. Yugi had never really taken his cluttered kitchen for granted, but after spending an afternoon in Emiko's creepy house, he was feeling particularly grateful towards it. Ryou was obviously feeling the same way, Yugi could see that by the relief showing on his face.

"So?" His grandfather asked. "You going to tell us what happened?" he leaned forward expectantly. "Who owned the house? Did you meet them? Were they famous?"

Mrs. Mutou rolled her eyes. "Suguroku, give them some time to speak."

"It's fine mom." Yugi said. "And to answer your questions grampa-" he took a deep breath- "We were coming home and Ryou said that it wasn't going to rain and we had plenty of time and I should stop running, but it did, start raining I mean, and we were stuck outside for an hour and then the owner of the house came in while we were there and she's this kid named Emiko Kata, she goes to Domino high and we're kind of friends I guess, except she was kind of upset when we left, and got all touchy and so we went home and now we're here." **(A/N: If you're reading this out loud you can breathe now.) **Yugi paused to see their reactions.

"Wow Yugi, I didn't know you could talk so fast," said Ryou.

Everyone sweatdropped.

"Kata, eh?" said Grampa. "Did she mention who her father was?"

Yugi shrugged. "No."

"Well, that's unfortunate."

"Why, is that, Mr. Mutou?"

"I used to work with a man named Kata. He had a daughter. Twins, actually. I can't remember either of the children's names. But he left the archaeological scene a few years before I did. Said the work didn't pay enough. I don't think he ever really understood that we weren't in it for the money. Never seen him since."

"Sorry Grampa, but I didn't see another girl with Emiko. I don't think it could be your friend."

"Friend? Oh no, we were never friends. He didn't agree with me and Professor Hawkins in our theories about duel monsters. He never thought much of magic or rituals, in fact he was inclined against them." Grampa sighed. "Pity, he was quite promising."

Yugi heard Atemu mumble something about how he'd 'sure believe in magic when I'm through with him' and stifled a laugh.

"Anyway," said Mrs. Mutou, "you two should get to bed. You've had a hard day. Ryou, I set up an airbed in Yugi's room. That's where you can sleep."

"Thanks, Mrs. Mutou."

"You're lucky. I'm surprised neither of you caught-"

"_ACHOO!_"

"-cold."

"Sorry mom," sniffed Yugi.

Well, that settles it. Bed. Now."

Yugi climbed the stairs sluggishly. He was feeling drowsy and sick, and couldn't agree with his mother more. Upon reaching his room he collapsed on his bed and closed his eyes. _I hadn't realized I was so tired_, he thought.

_So... tired..._

He woke up three hours later, still feeling stuffy, but much less than he had been earlier. There was a scratching noise from the corner of his room, and he turned to see Atemu doodling in the sketchbook Yugi had given him. Yugi had done it last week, after Atemu had complained of boredom, just to give him something to do. As it turned out, the spirit had quite a knack for art. It had originally surprised Yugi that he could actually move the pencil, but later he realized that this wasn't so amazing, seeing as the spirit could indeed sit on his bed without falling through.¹

Yugi got up and went over to take a look at the drawing. His friend looked up briefly, but otherwise didn't acknowledge his presence. Assuming that Atemu didn't mind his being there, Yugi took a look at his artwork.

The picture was done in black ink. It appeared to be a park or garden, which, Yugi wasn't sure. Dark trees acted as a border for a path down the middle, and almost appeared to be pointing at the scene down the path. The object they were pointing at appeared to be a bench, surrounded by grass and wild flowers. There was only one person in the sketch, and that was a girl sitting on the bench. She was not looking straight at him, but Yugi was sure that she was the focus of the picture. The girl was wearing a dress and holding flowers. Her long dark hair framed a pointed head, but her face hadn't been filled in yet, so was impossible to tell what she was thinking. It had apparently been raining, for there were puddles on the ground and the girl's dress was wet. The whole view was gloomy and disturbing, and Yugi's heart went out to the girl. An angry growl brought him back to reality.

_"Gah!"_

_"What's wrong, Atemu?"_

_"I can't do it. Stupid thing."_

_"Can't do what?"_

_"Finish the girl's face. I knew what I wanted her to look like, had her pictured in my mind, and then I just lost it."_

_"Maybe you can finish it tomorrow. Figure it out during the night."_

_"I don't think that that's going to happen. I better just put it away and forget about it. Every other picture in this book has been like that. Full of faceless people."_

_"Ah well. Can I at least show your picture to Ryou before you trash it?"_

_"Fine,"_ replied a depressed Atemu. _"It won't help anyway."_

Yugi shrugged and walked down the hall, sketchbook in hand. He found Ryou brushing his teeth.

"Yoo-ee," he gargled. "arn' oo shupporsa be n' brd?"

"Umm... what did you say?"

The white haired boy spat out the foam in his mouth. "I said, 'Yugi, aren't you supposed to be in bed?'"

"I guess. I woke up, actually, and Atemu did this picture he doesn't want." Yugi showed Ryou the sketch. "See? Hey, are you okay?"

His friend had suddenly gone very pale. Suddenly Ryou grabbed the sketchbook and ran into Yugi's room, staring at the page as he sat on his airbed.

"Ryou?" Yugi said warily from the door.

"Yugi, this picture... that's... no, I recognize this place! Hang on..." the boy flipped the pages of the notebook, getting paler as he looked at each. "I've been here. All of these places. This is my house. That's the city I used to live in. There's the beach I went to with my family." he paused and pointed. "Oh no..."

Yugi bent down to see what he was looking at. Following Ryou's finger, he saw what he was looking at. A girl, with what he now saw was brown hair, was sitting on the coast. Taking the book back, Yugi flipped a few pages. The girl was in each one, her head in the window of a sketch with children playing ball outside a school, walking down the street, looking at an old statue. Yugi put the book down carefully. He felt no need to keep looking. He had seen enough. He knew.

"Ryou, that's Amane, isn't it?"

* * *

**1) In any scene involving Yugi in his room, chances are you will see Atemu either standing so that the curtains show through his transparent body, or sitting on Yugi's bed. How he does this I don't know, but it's very cool. **

** Inari: I'm starting to get really annoyed with this Quick Edit thing. I've had to write my author's note at least three times, since I accidently cut it out of my original document. Hardly a cliff hanger ending, but you still want to read more, right? (cricket chirps) ...Right?**

** Yugi: (in sick voice) You are ebil. Gibbig me a code was bery mead. (sneezes)**

** Atemu: ...or Attie, or At-At, or 'Mu, but why Atemu?**

** Inari: (laughs evilly) So read and review please! Well... you've probably already read to get to this point. Oh well, just review please.**


	2. Atemu disappears and reappears

**Chapter Two: In Which Atemu Diappears and Reappears **

**Inari: I got no reviews last chapter. This means that I don't need to write lengthy responses to reviewers, but it also makes me feel like a failed writer.**

**Yugi: Which you are.**

**Inari: So please, please, please, please with sugar on top, read and review this chapter!**

**Atemu: Well, since she's busy crying her eyes out (sobbing noises) I think that I can do the disclaimer. Heh heh heh. Inari is a terrible writer. You can see that by the rushed plot later this chapter. Terrible writers aren't even allowed to _look _atthe rights to Yugioh. So it's safe to say Inari does not own Yugioh. Ot Tylenol, for that matter. Or pizza.  
**

**_"words here": _ Any hikari or yami to their other half.**

**Character names will be the Japanese ones. Ryou will be Ryou. Yugi will be Yugi. Atemu will be Atemu. **

**Important note: All spelling mistakes in this chapter are intentional. Yugi has a cold, after all. I _do_ spell check my work.**

**

* * *

Chapter Two**

_"Yami. Out. Now."_

The words echoed in Atemu's mind. It looked rather like an Ancient Egyptian tomb, as was intended. Hiroglyphs adorned the walls, each slightly faded. There were many doors, some leading to traps and others to memories. But Atemu cared about none of tghis now. He knew that he was in trouble. Yugi never called him by his fake name anymore.

The spirit left his soul room and appeared in front of Yugi and Ryou. Atemu couldn't tell what was going on, but from the looks on the two boys' faces it wasn't good. Ryou seemed agitated, and was wringing his hands. Yugi didn't seem to know just what to do, and kept looking around as though something would appear to him from out of the wall. Evidently, Atemu was the only thing there.

_"What happened?" _Asked Atemu.

Yugi raised an eyebrow and gestured at Ryou, who was looking with confusion at the spirit and wondering why he couldn't hear what Atemu was saying.

"Sorry," said Atemu, this time out loud. "Can you hear me now?"

"Oh, we can hear you alright," said Ryou angrily."Out with it. How do you know my sister, why is she in all your drawings, and what the heck is going on here?"

"Um... can I ask you something?"

"Yes, Atemu," said the boy.

"What are you talking about?" Yugi and Ryou sweatdropped.

"Dust take a look ad this," Yugi said stuffily, handing over the sketchbook.

Atemu turned the pages of his sketchbook slowly, Yugi and Ryou alternately pointing out Amane in each picture. As they reached the end, Yugi bit his lip.

"What do you make of it?"

The spirit scratched his head thoughtfully. "Wow..." he breathed. "Did I...? Wow..."

"So you've never seen her before? Not once?" Asked Ryou hopefully.

"No. I'm sorry. Your sister, didn't she die in a car crash?"

"Yes," said Ryou. "I was kind of hoping that you... well, you're dead and all. And she always liked magic. And dueling. So you never...?"

Atemu sighed. "Ryou, I'm not a ghost. I can't contact the dead. But if Amane's spirit was anywhere around here I would be able to sense it. I haven't felt anything as of yet."

"Sorry for asking. I guess I kind of got hopeful I could see her again."

"No, it's okay," said Atemu. "She sounds like a very interesting character. It is unfortunate she died before I could meet her."

"Yeah. I think you two would have gotten along well."

Atemu smiled. "I wish I could. Meet her, I mean."

Yugi closed his eyes. "Ademu, sometimes I dink that dust by saying somedig is impossible, id makes you want id." The boy looked over to Atemu, and was surprised to see that he was leaning heavily against the closet door. "You okay, mou hidori no boku?"

Atemu spoke in a strained voice. _"Yugi, I don't feel well. I think I'll go..."_ Atemu suddenly faded out.

"Wow Ryou. I don't dink I've ebber seen the odder me sick before." Yugi said. "Remind me do check od him dommorow."

"Okay..." said Ryou, slightly uneasy. "Yugi, are you sure? I'm getting a bad feeling about this."

"To dell you the druth Ryou," Yugi replied, "so am I..."

* * *

Atemu reappeared in his soul room. There were many doors in there, that he knew. Most lead to traps. Of all the doors in it though, only one was the one he was looking for. His favorite door, the true room; and, on the rare occasions where he rested, that was where he did it. He never slept. 

_Right now,_ he thought, _is the time to rest. _He started walking towards the room.

"Ouch!" Atemu said as he crashed into a wall. _Funny, I don't remember that being there before._

The spirit looked up and got a shock. He was standing in front of a large glass building. That had definitely not been there before. There was another building similar to the first one next to it. Atemu already had a bad feeling.

"Alright... calm down..." he said. He turned slowly, trying not to panic. After looking, he nearly panicked anyway.

This was definitely not his soul room.

In fact, it wasn't even Domino.

He was standing in what appeared to be a city, but not a particularly busy one. There was a lot of people; teenagers talking, parents shopping, people going to their jobs, but the glass building was the largest one there. It dominated the city, towering high above all the other buildings. What surprised Atemu, though, was it's sign.

"Kazami Bio Ware, a division of Kaiba Corp. Military Technology...?" He stared. "What? Kaiba Corp. hasn't been a military company for over two years. Where am I?"

Atemu looked back at the people on the street._ If this is a vision, then I'm like a ghost. No one will be able to help me get back. Well, that's nothing new. Maybe I'm supposed to see something that could help me out back in Domino._

He scanned the crowd for familiar faces. No one.

"Hey kid, move it!"

Atemu jumped out of the way just in time to avoid being hit by a large blue bicycle, driven by two kids, a boy and a girl.

"Sor- wait a minute, you can see me?"

The girl rolled her eyes. "Duh. What, do you think we're all _that _stupid?"

"N-no," he said, staring at the girl. She was almost pretty, in a way, but that wasn't why Atemu was looking. She didn't have a lot going for her, with mouse brown hair and freckles. But she looked kind of familiar. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you."

"Then get out of the way before you cause a traffic accident." The girl giggled at Atemu, and the boy sighed. "You have to stop doing that," he said.

"Doing what?"

"Flirting. You remember when Yukio and Kaemon asked you out on the same day? I had to get you out of it, they almost beat me up."

"Okay, whatever. Let's go," The girl said, twirling black bangs. "Buh-bye, kid." They started to peddle off.

"Wait!" Atemu said. The bike paused. "What's your name?"

"Oh, my name is Ka-" Atemu stopped paying attention there. A shadow had just flitted across his vision.

"-go to Kozue Private School. You can always reach us there. Hey, I never asked your name kid... kid?" The boy turned around. The other was no longer listening and was staring intently at an alley between two buildings. The boy sweatdropped. "Well bye then, if you don't care."

Atemu waved distantly, still looking at the alley.. He could swear he had seen a figure lurking in the shadows for a second there. Frowning, he went to investigate. There was something going on here. Why had he suddenly and mysteriously appeared in a city that was two years behind the times?

And how was everyone able to see him?

* * *

Yugi awoke the next morning after a fretful sleep. His dark half had not spoken to him all night. Wondering if he had done something wrong, Yugi tried talking to him again. 

_"Atemu? Are you there?" _No answer. Yugi sighed and got dressed for school. Then he remembered it was Saturday and changed into his pyjamas.

Finally, after working out the correct time of day and day of the week, he changed into a red T-shirt and put on the millennium puzzle. The boy went over to wake up Ryou.

"Ryou, id's mording time," Yugi said. He realized he was still sick and scowled as the other got up. "Wha-" Ryou took one look at Yugi and burst out laughing.

"What's so fuddy?" Ryou started rolling around on the floor.

"Oh come odd, stop laughig!" Yugi yelled. Ryou was now laughing so hard his face was turning purple.

Yugi rolled his eyes. "You know, you cad die laughig for all I care." Ryou finally stopped, giggling a bit. "Sorrry Yugi, it's just- ahaha, your clothes and -wahaha, you scowling like that, and your voice-" he burst into peels of laughter again. Yugi looked down and realized that he was only wearing a T-shirt, and that the T-shirt was one of his mother's. It had a large gold flower and the words 'I love gardening' on it.

"How the heck did I ged dat on?" Yugi wondered. He went back and changed again. "Bedder?" he asked. He realized that Ryou had gone down to breakfast already. He sighed and went downstairs. "Good mornig everyode," Yugi said as he walked into the kitchen. "Me and Ryou are goig down to the arcade avder breakfast."

His mom gave him an odd look. "Yugi, I think you're still too sick to go out."

"No, I'm perfecdly fide. Why would you say dat?"

Mrs. Mutou raised an eyebrow. "Well for one thing, you're wearing your swim trunks..."

"Arrrggghhhh!" Yugi followed with a long string of words not appropriate for a low rating story which deeply shocked his mother and Grampa.¹

"Wow Mrs. Mutou," said Ryou over Yugi's noise. "I never knew your son had such a colourful vocabulary."

"Ryou, dis has got to stop," Yugi complained. He was sitting in his bed with a thermometer in his mouth and a hot water bottle on his head. "My mom dinks I'm too sick to do anyding."

"Your mom 'dinks' a lot of things."

"Ha ha. How come you didn't ged sick?"

"Um, because I take my vitamins?"

"Nah. I dink it's because your Yami is evil."

"Not anymore he isn't." Ryou smiled proudly. "I've taught Bakura common ettiquette. He now knows all the secrets of getting into a fancy restaurant with no reservation."

Yug raised an eyebrow.

"I-I mean... gosh, I've become as bad as him."

Yugi sighed. "I just wish Ademu was back from wherebber."

* * *

"Who are you?" Atemu got no reply from the alley, despite his hopes. The boy grimaced and walked farther between the two buildings. "I know you're here, come out! You can't hide forever, I want to know what you were doing back there!" 

There was a slight clatter from behind a trash can. Atemu grinned. "Gotcha."

He ran over to the garbage bin, skidding slightly. "Now that I know where you are, you can't run... anymore?" The person had disappeared. "What kind of magic is thi- aarrrggh!" Hands grabbed him from behind. Atemu struggled against whoever was behind him, but the hand held firm. He couldn't see who was holding him, but Atemu doubted it was a friend. He kicked his attacker in the shin and the grip tightened.

"Come now Pharaoh, play nice." The voice sounded icy.

"Wh-what do you want from me?" Atemu managed to say. The other chuckled.

"You have to ask that question? What do you think I want? I want to know how you followed me."

"Follow you? All I had to do was walk into an alley." There was a sudden change in pressure on his right arm and a resounding crack. Atemu's eyes went wide in pain, and he looked down at his broken arm. Oddly enough, there was no pain from it, other than the initial shock.²

"Stop being impertinent. I can break the other one, you know."

"But I'm-"

"Telling the truth? Being vague won't get you out of here."

"I'm not being vague. I don't know what you're talking abou- ah!" The man, as Atemu assumed it was, was starting to squeeze his left arm.

"Don't be stupid, _Pharaoh_, it doesn't suit you. I want to know how you got back in time."

"You mean... I don't know how I got here, and if I did I wouldn't tell _you_."

This time the attacker laughed aloud.

"What's so funny?" Atemu growled.

"You mean you honestly don't know how you got here? Hah! I don't believe you. But you can't do much now. It appears your spell is wearing off." The boy looked down at his body, which was quickly turning transparent again.

"Wait, I-" Atemu started to say, but it was no good. The scene around him was already starting to change. The alleyway disappeared, and he was falling in darkness, the unknown other's voice carrying after him.

"Goodbye for now Pharaoh, but trust me, we _will_ meet again."

* * *

Atemu awoke an hour later and groaned. He was sore all over. The spirit didn't even want to move. He felt something large and heavy on his chest. He opened his eyes to investigate- 

And got a faceful of red and gold hair as his hikari hugged him tightly. "Atemu! You're alive!"

"Wha...?"

Yugi smiled happily and jumped up and down on his darker half. "Weweresittinghereforageswaitingforyoutogetup, youwern'ttalkingtomesoIdecidedtoinvestigateandyouwereherelyingallfunny," Yugi paused to breathe then started again.

"Ryouthoughtyouweredeadandweweresoworriedbutnowyou'reokayandI'msogladyou'renotdead!"

"Two things, aibou. One, I'm not alive either, and two, can you please get off my chest? I can't breathe!"

Yugi stood up. "Gomen. I was worried though, when you didn't get up."

"Do you think it was because you were sitting on my chest for however long?"

"Oh yeah... didn't think of that..."

Now that Atemu had woken up, Yugi told him about all the things that had happened that morning.

"And my mom says that I'm too sick to go to the arcade. Why is she so annoying?"

"She kind of has a point there, Yugi. I'm surprised that you were well enough to get down the stairs."

"You know, one of the things Honda taught me about modern life is that you can never do anything your parents say if you want to look cool."

"What?"

"That is completely moronic."

"So?"

"I can't believe you go to Honda for coolness advice."

"How come he gets to sneak out when he's sick..." Yugi made puppy eyes.

Atemu sighed. "Fine then. If you really want to sneak out today, I can get you out. Just promise me never to try this ever again. It's very risky."

"What's the plan?"

"Well..."

* * *

Ten minutes later, Yugi was being dragged to bed by his ear. "What the heck were you doing? I really think you should stay home from school on Monday, after trying that idea," said Mrs. Mutou. 

"I really think I need to skip school on Monday," Yugi said through his end of the mind link. "What was I thinking, listening to you? Sneaking up the chimney was a dumb escape plan."

"I hate to say I told you so, but..." Atemu grinned.

"Hey! You did that on purpose!" Yelled Yugi aloud. His mother gasped. "And you're delirious! We better get you to bed!"

Yugi was hustled into his room. "Ryou, you keep Yugi company." The other boy did so.

Yugi sighed. "So, back to where we starded. Whad do you wand to do, Ryou?"

"Duel Monsters?"

"You're on."

* * *

It was Monday. 

Or at least, Yugi assumed it was. He and Ryou had stayed up playing Duel Monsters until two in the morning, at which point they had collapsed in exhaustion. The floor of Yugi's room was littered with pop cans, empty pizza boxes, and cards; the scene of a catastrophic battle against parents.

He now knew exactly why never to stay up on a school night. Yugi got dressed quickly and walked to the washroom to get some Tylenol. Boy did he have a headache...

Ryou was up not long after Yugi. His first morning words were "Screw time!" before he ran for the Tylenol. The latter, however, had been used up by Yugi, and so Ryou had to walk to school with a splitting head. Jonouchi, Anzu, and Honda were waiting outside the game shop.

"Hey guys, what kept ya? We were waiting for hours at the arcade. Ya weren't there yesterday either."

Yugi smiled. "Sorry Jonouchi. I was sick, and we had a late night playing Duel Monsters. I managed to beat my mom out the door before she could make me stay home."

Anzu gave him a look. "I really hope you don't have some sort of infectious disease."

"Just a head cold. It's gone now."

"Well then, we'd better get going. Only ten minutes until school starts."

The five set off for Domino High. They made it to class just as the bell started ringing, managing to get into their individual seats in the three seconds they had before class started. Luckily for Yugi and co., the teacher didn't seem to be as quick as them, and had not arrived yet.

"Hi Yugi!" Yugi recognised the voice. He turned and saw Hanasaki Tomoya, his neighbor, sitting next to him.

"Hi Hanasaki," said Yugi. "I didn't know you sat here," he added.

"I don't. Not usually. But there are a bunch of kids who changed schools to Domino. Since most of the kids who disappeared were from Kozue, the police think that the kidnappers are after Private School kids. One took my seat."

Yugi noticed Atemu had come out of his soul room and was listening very intently to the conversation.

_"What's wrong Atemu?"_

_"Just something Hanasaki said. Ask him the names of the missing people." _Yugi nodded just enough that Atemu could see.

"Hanasaki, do you know who the missing kids were?"

"No... but one of them was found. No one knows who it was though, it wasn't disclosed to the press."

"Really?"

"Yeah. But what I heard was a lady found this kid on the street. They were lying there bleeding and muttering things. The woman called the police. It might be a rumor, but people say," he lowered his voice to a whisper, "that when the woman tried to pick this kid up off the road, her hands got burned."

"What? How?"

"No one knows. That's why the police are trying to keep it quiet." He shrugged. "But that kind of thing gets out. There are witnesses. People get _paid _to tell."

Just then the homeroom teacher, Mr. Nori, walked through the door. "Settle down please, class." The room quieted. "As you know, there has been a rise in missing persons reports near Kozue High-"

"Well duh, with all the students vanishing into thin air," snickered one boy in the back row. There were giggles from the students.

Mr. Nori pretended nothing had happened. "And so some of their students have come to Domino. You may have noticed three new classmates have joined us. Put your hand up if you are new to Domino." Two hands were raised, a blonde girl and a well-groomed boy who looked disgusted at the normality of Domino high school students. He seemed to be in Hanasaki's seat. "Names?" said the teacher.

"I'm Hiroshi Aiko."

"My name is Masato Kamin." Neither face was familiar to Yugi.

"Hiroshi... Masato... check. Welcome to Domino. But wait, where is the third student?"

There was silence in the room. Then, slowly, a third hand was raised. It belonged to a pale boy, with just as pale near-white hair, sitting near the back of the class.

And he looked very familiar indeed.

"Welcome to Domino, mister... what _is_ your name?" The boy mumbled something unintelligible.

"Pardon?"

"Kata. Kata Kiyoshi."

"Well, hello then. Would you three come up and tell us a bit about yourselves?" The students shuffled forward.

"I like to figure skate and design clothes, and someday I'll be a famous fashion-designing figure skater," smiled Aiko.

"Oh, how cool!" several girls squealed.

"Call me!" mouthed Jonouchi.

"I'm too rich to need a job, and I don't want to be friends with any of you unless you're rich, which I doubt," said Kamin.

The afore mentioned Domino girls swooned at his melodic voice.

The third boy seemed to be in his own little world, until the teacher called him sharply. "Mister Kata?"

"Hn? Oh yes. My name is Kata Kiyoshi in case you forgot, and I'm Icophobic."

"Mister Kata, Icophobic is not a word."

"It could be. Ico: hit, phobia: the fear of; therefore Icophobia: fear of being hit. I greatly dislike being touched by anyone in any form. If you so far as touch my skin, I will give you large amounts of pain."

A brown haired boy smiled evilly and put up his hand. "How can you hurt us if you're 'Icoophobic'?"

Kiyoshi held up his hands, which had leather gloves on them. "Your funeral." The brown haired boy scowled. "Hey, nobody messes with Haruki Maro."

Yugi feared for Kiyoshi's safety. Haruki was one of the biggest bullies in the school, and had more cronies than a crime boss, if there was a difference. He had never come near Yugi because... well, you just don't pick on the world Duel Monsters champion. You don't pick on the friends of the world Duel Monsters champion either. Yugi had never found a reason to use the millennium puzzle on him though, because you could never catch Haruki doing anything bad. Even teachers didn't know what to do with him. Yugi sincerely hoped the new boy knew what he was up against.

"Thank you mister Kata, mister Haruki, that will be quite enough. Please return to your seats, students." Haruki sat down grumbling.

As Kiyoshi walked back to his seat, the brown haired boy stuck out his foot casually. While everyone else in the class saw, Kiyoshi appeared not to have noticed. He just continued walking, until-

_WHAM!_

He hit the ground hard. "Gotcha back," hissed Haruki. Everyone except Yugi and his friends were laughing at the scene. The laughter died down, however, when Kiyoshi picked himself up, brushed himself off, and walked to his seat without saying a single word. "Oh man, this guy is too easy!" Howled one of Haruki's friends.

Yugi stared at the boy. What was he thinking? Those bullies were going to pick on him all year... Kiyoshi suddenly looked up to meet Yugi's gaze. He had piercing yellow eyes, and Yugi was fighting the urge to look away. Instead he started back full force. The two were locked in competition, refusing to look away, willing to stare until the other had to back down. Neither did. Then something odd happened.

Kiyoshi winked.

He's done something, thought Yugi. What's he up to?

"AARRRGGHH!" Haruki was suddenly jumping around and yelling at the top of his lungs. Yugi, along with everyone else in the class, looked to see what was wrong with him. Hanasaki saw it first.

"Hey look, his pant leg is on fire!"

Haruki danced around on top of the desks, trying to put the fire out. Mr. Nori was yelling for the class to settle down, and Aiko was screaming at the top of her lungs. Even Yugi was being jostled around by the running students. In all the commotion, Atemu was the only one who actually saw Kiyoshi smile and say, "Gotcha back."

_So, Kata Kiyoshi. I finally have a name to the face. If we ever face each other in battle, you will be a worthy adversary indeed._

_

* * *

_  
**1) If you ever go to Japan, don't call someone a baka. It's used casually on this site, but Japanese adults can sometimes be very formal. Especially teachers. Call a teacher baka and you will be in a lot of trouble.**

**2) Yes, I completely made this up. Don't go breaking arms, kids. **

**Inari: So how was that? Review worthy? (Puppy eyes) Please review?**

**Ryou: But what happened to the Tylenol?**

**Atemu: Forget the Tylenol, I want to know what happened to Haruki's leg!**

**Yugi: Why was I jostled?**

**Inari: Patience everyone. You'll figure everything out next chapter. Or the chapter after that. Or the one after that. But there won't be any unless you review!**


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